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Sight & Sound October 2014 Sight & Sound October 2014

David Fincher on his latest noir Gone Girl, the genius of Peter Lorre, David Cronenberg on his Tinseltown satire Maps to the Stars, Pawel Pawlikowski’s Ida, Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard’s docufiction portrait of Nick Cave, David Thomson on Lauren Bacall and more.

David Fincher on his latest noir Gone Girl, the genius of Peter Lorre, David Cronenberg on his Tinseltown satire Maps to the Stars, Pawel Pawlikowski’s Ida, Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard’s docufiction portrait of Nick Cave, David Thomson on Lauren Bacall and more.

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Features

COVER FEATURE: Love is the devil

David Fincher’s big-screen version of Gillian Flynn’s bestselling novel Gone Girl explores the dark secrets at the heart of a dysfunctional marriage. Here the director discusses the narcissism of modern relationships and the slippery art of manipulating expectations of innocence and guilt. By Nick James.

Life in a day

Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard’s 20,000 Days on Earth presents a stunningly inventive docufiction portrait of 24 hours in the life of Australian rocker Nick Cave, merging archive footage, live performance, dream sequences and even a dose of good old-fashioned Lacanian psychoanalysis. By Thirza Wakefield.

Slim pickings

For all of the generous obituaries that accompanied Lauren Bacall’s recent death, her status as a Hollywood legend is actually built on just two films – To Have and Have Not and The Big Sleep. In everything else, she was at best respectable, at worst lost. By David Thomson.

The outsider

Throughout his career, Pawel Pawlikowski has shown an unwillingness to be constrained by commercial or editorial pressures, and demonstrated a particular affinity for exiles and outsiders – and his latest, Ida, a drama examining post-WWII Poland, is no exception. By Michael Brooke.

Making faces

Peter Lorre’s first big on-screen role, as the grotesque pop-eyed child-killer in Fritz Lang’s M, instantly marked him out as one of the all-time greats, but it also haunted him for the rest of his career, seeing him typecast in a series of films playing melancholy psychopaths and sadists. By Philip Kemp.

Ghost world

David Cronenberg’s vicious Hollywood satire Maps to the Stars is powered by a blistering performance by Julianne Moore as a self-obsessed actress living in the shadow of her late movie star mother. Here the director explains why Tinseltown finds it so hard to escape the spectres of its past. By Nick James.

Reviews

Films of the month

At Berkeley Pride A Spell to Ward Off the Darkness

plus reviews of

All Cheerleaders Die Alleluia Attila Marcel Ballet Boys The Expendables 3 Get On Up Grand Piano Guardians of the GalaxyThe Guest The Guvnors Hector and the Search for Happiness Hercules The Hundred-foot Journey Ida The Inbetweeners 2 In Order of Disappearance Into the Storm I Origins The Last Impresario Let’s Be Cops Life of CrimeLucy Magic in the Moonlight Maps to the Stars Million Dollar Arm A Most Wanted Man Night Will Fall Palo Alto Planes Fire & Rescue Salomé Sex Tape Step Up All In They Came Together Think Like a Man Too 20,000 Days on Earth A Walk Among the Tombstones Watermark What We Did on Our Holiday Wilde Salomé Wish I Was Here You and the Night

Features

COVER FEATURE: Love is the devil

David Fincher’s big-screen version of Gillian Flynn’s bestselling novel Gone Girl explores the dark secrets at the heart of a dysfunctional marriage. Here the director discusses the narcissism of modern relationships and the slippery art of manipulating expectations of innocence and guilt. By Nick James.

Life in a day

Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard’s 20,000 Days on Earth presents a stunningly inventive docufiction portrait of 24 hours in the life of Australian rocker Nick Cave, merging archive footage, live performance, dream sequences and even a dose of good old-fashioned Lacanian psychoanalysis. By Thirza Wakefield.

Slim pickings

For all of the generous obituaries that accompanied Lauren Bacall’s recent death, her status as a Hollywood legend is actually built on just two films – To Have and Have Not and The Big Sleep. In everything else, she was at best respectable, at worst lost. By David Thomson.

The outsider

Throughout his career, Pawel Pawlikowski has shown an unwillingness to be constrained by commercial or editorial pressures, and demonstrated a particular affinity for exiles and outsiders – and his latest, Ida, a drama examining post-WWII Poland, is no exception. By Michael Brooke.

Making faces

Peter Lorre’s first big on-screen role, as the grotesque pop-eyed child-killer in Fritz Lang’s M, instantly marked him out as one of the all-time greats, but it also haunted him for the rest of his career, seeing him typecast in a series of films playing melancholy psychopaths and sadists. By Philip Kemp.

Ghost world

David Cronenberg’s vicious Hollywood satire Maps to the Stars is powered by a blistering performance by Julianne Moore as a self-obsessed actress living in the shadow of her late movie star mother. Here the director explains why Tinseltown finds it so hard to escape the spectres of its past. By Nick James.

Reviews

Films of the month

At Berkeley Pride A Spell to Ward Off the Darkness

plus reviews of

All Cheerleaders Die Alleluia Attila Marcel Ballet Boys The Expendables 3 Get On Up Grand Piano Guardians of the GalaxyThe Guest The Guvnors Hector and the Search for Happiness Hercules The Hundred-foot Journey Ida The Inbetweeners 2 In Order of Disappearance Into the Storm I Origins The Last Impresario Let’s Be Cops Life of CrimeLucy Magic in the Moonlight Maps to the Stars Million Dollar Arm A Most Wanted Man Night Will Fall Palo Alto Planes Fire & Rescue Salomé Sex Tape Step Up All In They Came Together Think Like a Man Too 20,000 Days on Earth A Walk Among the Tombstones Watermark What We Did on Our Holiday Wilde Salomé Wish I Was Here You and the Night